The Solution
One way to address the sustainability concerns of these crop protection products is to examine the profile of the co-formulants that are necessary to deliver the active ingredients. Co-formulants that are highly concentrated and reduce or eliminate unnecessary additives are becoming more desirable and can allow more sustainable formulations to be developed.
Stepan’s formulation experts developed NINATE® 100L, a new co-formulant that is 100% active and does not contain any solvent or additives, to address this emerging trend.
Our team designed this product to:
- enable a higher loading of active ingredients by eliminating solvent from the product;
- reduce emissions during transportation per unit of active ingredients;
- reduce packaging and transportation costs;
- reduce water usage during the manufacturing process; and
- reduce potential hazards to health and the environment due to the absence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
As a dry flake or powder, NINATE 100L is a valuable addition to the formulator’s toolbox because it provides a calcium salt suitable for use in dry formulations and standard solvent-based systems. It also reduces potential incompatibility that is often associated with residual solvent in alternative calcium salt co-formulants.
NINATE 100L gives agricultural formulators the flexibility to formulate with a “green” solvent of choice, such as a soybean oil-based methyl ester like STEPOSOL® ME instead of an aromatic solvent. The image below shows how well NINATE 100L solubilizes in STEPOSOL ME. Once solubilized, NINATE 100L has been shown to behave equivalently to CaDDBSA delivered in a carrier solvent.
